[Hiring] Associate Director, ExploR&D Consultation Agreements @Lilly

Role Description

The Associate Director, ExploR&D Consultation Agreements is responsible for leading the negotiation and execution of consultation agreements between Lilly ExploR&D and external biotech partners across preclinical and development matters. This is a hands-on, high-throughput contracting role focused on drafting, redlining, and moving a large volume of consultation agreements through negotiation to signature quickly and cleanly.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end negotiation of consultation agreements with biotech partners across preclinical and development matters, from initial term discussions through executed contract.
• Move a high volume of agreements through negotiation to signature efficiently, balancing speed with rigor.
• Serve as the primary interface for biotechs engaging ExploR&D through the consultation pathway, translating scientific scope into commercial terms.
• Partner with ExploR&D leadership and subject-matter experts to structure consultations that align with Lilly's R&D capabilities.
• Draft, redline, and finalize consultation agreements in collaboration with Legal, ensuring commercial terms, scope, and deliverables are clearly captured, and that contractual provisions reflect the risk of the scientific engagement.
• Partner with Lilly scientists to translate technical scope into precise, bounded work plans, defining deliverables and responsibilities clearly.
• Negotiate change orders and amendments to existing consultation agreements as scope, timelines, or deliverables evolve.
• Communicate with biotech counterparts regarding contract structure, timelines, and Lilly's engagement model with clarity and credibility.
• Maintain rigorous deal tracking, pipeline visibility, and cycle-time discipline across the active consultation portfolio.
• Identify and drive process improvements to reduce friction, standardize terms where appropriate, and shorten time-to-signature.
• Partner with Finance, Legal, and Compliance to ensure all consultations meet Lilly's governance, risk, and approval standards.
• Potential to extend scope into alliance management responsibilities over time.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in any field.
• 7+ years of relevant experience in business development, contracting, or R&D consulting.
• Qualified applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. Lilly will not provide support for or sponsor work authorization or visas for this role.

Requirements

• Advanced degree in a life sciences, biomedical, or related STEM field (PhD, PharmD, MS).
• Deep R&D fluency across drug discovery and/or development, with the credibility to engage biotech scientific leaders as a peer.
• Demonstrated experience negotiating agreements with external partners in biotech, pharma, or life sciences.
• Direct experience drafting, redlining, and executing contracts, with strong command of terms and contract structure.
• Track record of managing multiple concurrent contracts with high attention to detail and disciplined follow-through.
• Experience with early-stage biotech ecosystem or external innovation.
• Alliance management experience with biotech companies.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to distill complex scientific and contractual terms for varied audiences.
• High comfort operating with ambiguity and building repeatable processes from the ground up.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration skills across Legal, Finance, and R&D.

Benefits

• Travel up to 10% US and/or OUS.
• Comprehensive benefit program including eligibility to participate in a company-sponsored 401(k); pension; vacation benefits; eligibility for medical, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits; flexible benefits; life insurance and death benefits; certain time off and leave of absence benefits; and well-being benefits.
• Actual compensation will depend on a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location. The anticipated wage for this position is $132,000 - $193,600.
• Full-time equivalent employees also will be eligible for a company bonus (depending, in part, on company and individual performance).